These Are The Things
by ebi pers
Summary: When Hiro goes to confront Callaghan in prison, he learns something that is both terrifying and comforting. But can he trust its source? And what will it mean for him if it's true? (To avoid spoiling the film, let's just say certain characters may not be as "gone" as originally suspected) Now complete!
1. Monster

**A/N: So Big Hero 6 is my favorite movie in existence and I just had to do something for it. Yes, this trope is so overused at this point but I DON'T CARE I'm doing it anyway! Yes, it's Alive!Tadashi because you can't just kill off a character like that. You can't. So Tadashi is alive. How? Well the story will explain all. Please leave a review after you're done so that I know what to fix, what you liked/disliked, etc. This movie has meant so much to me personally and I'm on an inspiration kick from it so I'm excited to share with you all. Sorry if it seems a little choppy. This is my exposition chapter and I've got so much cold medicine in my veins right now… O.O**

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><p>"Why are you bothering with this, Hiro? You're wasting your time." Go Go snapped her bubblegum, tried to look disinterested to hide her concern.<p>

Hiro took a deep breath, the jail suddenly seeming much, much bigger than he remembered.

"Go Go's right, Hiro," Honey Lemon said gently. "What are you going to accomplish?"

"He's going to answer for what he did," Hiro fixed them with a determined glare.

"But he is! He's in there! He's locked up!" Honey Lemon pleaded with the boy.

"What are you going to do? Hurt his feelings? He has none. This is pointless. It won't bring Tadashi back," Go Go added.

"I'm going," the boy waved them off. "Whether you want me to or not. He's going to remember Tadashi. He's going to be haunted by it every night," he gritted out. He left the girls behind, shoving open the prison's glass door and walking into its lobby.

The room was spare, covered in crusty beige carpet that made Hiro wonder whether or not beige was the original color. The walls were yellowed with age. A bored-looking attendant sat the desk.

"You here for something, kid?" he asked.

"I'm here to see someone," Hiro ground out slowly.

"Sign in," the desk attendant shoved a clipboard to him. "What's the name?"

"Robert Callaghan," he uttered the name with disgust.

The man frowned and Hiro leveled him with a moody stare. "He _is _allowed to have visitors, right?"

"Yes of course," the man replied quickly. "It's just that he's been here for almost a year now without receiving any. You his kid or something?"

"Distant relative," Hiro lied. "Tell him Hiro Hamada is here to see him."

The man picked up the phone and dialed a number. "Tell Callaghan he has a visitor. Some kid claiming to be a distant relative. Name's Hiro Hamada." He paused, then hung up the phone. "Callaghan will be out shortly. Follow me," he said as he led Hiro through a doorway to the visiting room. There was a table with two chairs opposite each other but nothing else to speak of. Hiro sat down, suddenly feeling a little nervous but nonetheless determined. He wondered how Callaghan would react. Would he act like he'd seen a ghost? Perhaps he would break down or beg forgiveness. Or maybe he wouldn't react at all, stunned to see the brother of his former star pupil sitting there. The brother of the star pupil he _murdered_.

Two guards led Callaghan through a separate door. He was clad in orange prison jumpers. He did not look surprised to see Hiro sitting there as the guards sat him down and cuffed his hands to the table. "We'll be right outside the door," one of them said. "Shout if you need anything." And with that, Hiro found himself alone in a room with his brother's murderer.

"Hiro Hamada," Callaghan acknowledged in a calm way that made Hiro's blood boil.

"_Don't _use my name," the boy ground out, unable to think of anything to say in response to the man's nonchalant greeting. He just didn't want to hear his name coming out of that _murderer's _mouth. Especially not the last name he shared with his brother.

"What can I do for you," Callaghan began again casually.

"_Shut up_!" the fourteen year old stood up abruptly, slamming his palms down on the table and glaring straight into the professor's face. "_You! _You killed Tadashi! Because of you, my brother's dead. You're a murderer, Callaghan. A _murderer_," Hiro jabbed a finger at the convict. "And I hope that every time you close your eyes all you can see is Tadashi! I hope you don't _sleep _because of him!" Tears of rage began to build in his eyes. "I hope that his death haunts you _every day _of you _miserable _existence."

Hiro sighed, collapsing in his chair and suddenly feeling very drained. That was all he had planned to say and yet he felt that he hadn't said it all.

"I'm not a monster," Callaghan spoke quietly.

Anger flashed across the boy's face as he sneered, "you're _not _a monster? My brother went into that burning building to _save _you from the fire you started. He _died _when you didn't even need saving and you're _not _a monster?"

Callaghan raised his voice for the first time. "Is that what you think? That I killed Tadashi? That I murdered your brother, my star pupil? Let me tell you something Hiro. Tadashi is alive and breathing. _I _saved him from that fire. _I _swarmed the microbots around him to protect him. Your brother is _alive _because of me."

"You're lying," Hiro seethed quietly. "You're LYING!" he said even more loudly. "Tadashi is _DEAD_!" He pounded the table again, causing the guards to rush into the room. The boy paid them no mind. "If he was alive, he would have come back to me by now," he finished quietly, chocking back a sob. How _dare _Callaghan tease him like this? All he wanted was his big brother back, and he knew it was impossible but here was this man, this _monster _trying to give him false hope.

"He helped me reengineer the portal, Hiro," Callaghan spoke up softly again. "I couldn't have done it myself that quickly. He's alive. He used to expound on your big brain, use it! Logically—"

"SHUT UP!" Hiro interrupted, tears now flowing freely from his eyes. "Don't you _ever _talk about my brother again! How _dare _you! Tadashi would have never helped you!"

"Logically, could I have done all of this on my own?" Callaghan continued, ignoring the outburst. "Tadashi. Is. Alive. He's on the island where you nearly killed me. Don't believe me? Go see for yourself."

"Get him away from me," Hiro growled to the guards, wiping the tears that blurred his vision as they uncuffed him from the table and hauled him to his feet.

"I'm not a monster, Hiro," Callaghan repeated as he was led from the room.

Hiro's face tightened into a grim scowl. "But you are," he muttered.

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><p><strong>AN: Okay so there's my exposition/teaser/trailer thing. Let me know if I should continue! I have some plans for what could happen next. If this does get continued, it will probably span maybe two or three more chapters at most but please leave a review and tell me what you think! I have a larger Big Hero 6 multichapter fic in the works. Thanks!**


	2. For Hiro

**A/N: Back by popular demand! I was hoping you guys would like this one. I liked to concept so I'm glad I get to continue. I got some great ideas from readers (looking at you, AngetianPrincess18) so I may incorporate some of them later on. A lot of you are looking for an explanation as to how/why Tadashi could possibly be alive and, if so, why he would help Callaghan so I decided to detour a bit and explore that aspect a bit more before going back to Hiro. That's what's happening this chapter and more will be revealed in the next. This is going back in time to right after the events of the explosion. Please leave a review if you like it or if you have a suggestion/something to change or even if you want to tell me I suck and that you wish my professors would kill me with my own inventions or something mean and terrible like that. But like I said let me know what you think! I didn't expect the story to take off this quickly!**

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><p>When Tadashi awoke, he was nearly blinded by the overhead lights—stark, sterile, almost like a laboratory. <em>It is a laboratory<em>. He sat up with a start, felt dizzy from the sudden movement and instinctively raised a hand to his temple to steady himself. _Where am I?_

He didn't recognize the space—bright white from the floor tiles to the walls to the ceiling. It looked similar to the labs at SFIT, only much larger. He was sitting on an exam bed, also a shockingly white hue. It was the only piece of furniture in the room. The air was cold and dry, like it was being filtered constantly, and it carried the same scent of sterilization that hospitals do. "Hello?" he called, slowly turning so that his socked feet dangled off the edge of the exam bed. He was still wearing the same sweater, jacket, and slacks he'd worn at Hiro's presentation but his shoes and hat were gone.

_Hiro_. His mind snapped into focus. _Where's Hiro? _It was all coming back to him now. The microbots, the presentation, the _fire_. _Where am I? Is this a hospital? Am I dead? _"Hello?" he called again, more urgently this time, swallowing the panic that was quickly rising in his chest, tightening his throat, making his heart skip beats. He jumped off the bed, padded toward the metal door—the only sign of entrance or exit in the room. He tugged at the door handles, had to compose himself when the door wouldn't open. _Where's Hiro? _His mind was racing. He pounded on the door. "Hey! Someone! Let me out!" he called, desperation gripping him. He had to get out of here, he had to make sure Hiro was okay.

The door was flung open with such alarming force that Tadashi jumped back in surprise. He wasn't sure who he was expecting to come in. Maybe a nurse or an orderly, or even a doctor. He did not expect to be gazing into the kind face of Robert Callaghan. "Professor?" he blurted in surprise.

The professor smiled warmly at him. "Tadashi. I'm glad you're awake."

"You're…you're okay," Tadashi mumbled, still in shock. He had rushed in to save Callaghan but had been confronted with a wall of flame only moments after entering the building. He remembered the intensity of the heat, hacking and choking. Then darkness. "I thought…I mean…I rushed in there to help you and I…"

Callaghan placed a hand on his student's shoulder. "I know, Tadashi. I know. And I'm very grateful. A beam came crashing down on you. You were knocked out. You're lucky that your brother left his microbots behind. I was able to use them to shield myself and you."

"Hiro!" Tadashi gripped the professor's arm tightly. "Where's my brother? Is he okay?"

A strange look flashed across Callaghan's face. "Tadashi…you might want to sit down." The older man led the student to the exam bed and gently eased him into a sitting position. Tadashi could feel his heart dropping into the pit of his stomach. There was only one reason why Callaghan could be acting this way, but he couldn't bring himself to admit it. He braced himself.

"Tadashi, I tried. I really did," Callaghan put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"No."

"He rushed in after you. I saw him. I tried to get the microbots to shelter him but the building exploded before I could help him…"

"No."

"I'm so, so sorry, Tadashi…"

"No! He can't…" Tadashi slumped over, eyes spilling over with tears. "He can't be! I told him to wait outside! I—"

"I just couldn't save him in time," Callaghan sighed sadly. "It's my fault."

"No!" Tadashi cut in. "It's my fault." He drew in a large breath of air and let it out in a sob. "It's all my fault. He begged me not to go in there. I should have sent him away first. I should've known he would follow me and—and—it's…my…fault," he rasped out between choked, tearful breaths.

He could see Hiro in front of him now. Hiro. Short, fluffy-headed, scrawny, dorky, defiant Hiro in his favorite blue hooded sweatshirt. He could see his kid brother laughing, the instantly recognizable gap in his teeth. He could picture him stumbling awkwardly through his presentation, the look of joy and relief on his face when he hit upon a new idea in that big brain of his. Hiro. His little brother who was always getting bored, getting himself into trouble just for the sake of having something to do. His idiot of a genius brother who he liked to tease, who he would bail out of whatever situation he'd gotten himself into now. The brother he had sworn to always protect after their parents were stolen from them. The brother he had always envied because everything seemed to come so easily to him. The brother he was always so proud of, who he boasted about to all of his friends at SFIT until they all came to know him without ever meeting the boy. Hiro—his little brother who he loved more than anything in the world—was gone. And it was all his fault. Hot tears streamed from Tadashi's eyes. Hiro was gone.

"You did what you thought was right," Callaghan tried to reassure him. "It's not your fault, Tadashi." He paused as his student shook and tried to regain his composure. "But I know whose fault it is…"

The boy looked up, startled. "What?"

Callaghan's expression turned grim. "That fire wasn't an accident, Tadashi. I saw what really happened."

"What are you talking about?"

"Krei, Tadashi! After Hiro refused to sell him the microbots, he started a chemical fire to destroy them."

The student drew in a sharp breath. "W-why would he do something like that?" he asked, wiping a hand over his eyes many times to sweep away the tears as he tried to hold more back.

The professor's face hardened. "Because he can't take no for an answer. He's a petty man driven by greed, Tadashi. If he couldn't have the microbots, no one could. I tried to stop him."

Tadashi felt sick to his stomach. Hiro didn't just die by accident. He was _murdered_. He felt nauseated, turned his head to the side and began retching.

"Tadashi, I need your help," Professor Callaghan spoke after he stopped. His pupil turned to look at him. "I need you to help me get even with Krei."

Tadashi's eyes widened. "Professor…that's—that's not ethical. We can't get revenge," he rejected the idea. _Hiro would be so disappointed in me if I did that. _"W-we need to prosecute him. We need the police."

"I tried, Tadashi, but without proof that Krei started the fire it's my word against his. And any chance of proof went up in flames with that building. I'm not suggesting we get even in _that _sense. But there is another way. A way we can make humanity better and reveal to the world Alistair Krei's true colors."

Tadashi looked intrigued momentarily, but then the spark in his eyes died. "Professor…with all due respect I'd just like to go home to see my Aunt Cass. I'm sure she needs me right now with..." his voice trailed off. He couldn't bring himself to say it.

Callaghan shook his head. "You don't understand, Tadashi. You can't go home."

"Why not?" the boy rose to his feet now, alarmed.

"Because Krei thinks we died in that fire alongside Hiro. The _world _thinks we're dead. If Krei found out we're alive, do you realize what he would do to us? We're too much of a risk. He'd have us killed. And probably others, too—your friends, your Aunt Cass, maybe my colleagues. Just in case we told them the truth too. And then how would the world know the truth?"

"He couldn't get away with that!"

"Alistair Krei is a dangerously rich and powerful man, Tadashi. He could easily make each death look like an accident. Look what he did to your brother." Tadashi winced at the mention of Hiro, a fresh flood of tears threatening to break forth just after he had gained a shaky composure.

"Look what he thinks he did to us." Callaghan continued. "As long as we're here, we're safe and so are our loved ones."

"Where is _here_, exactly?" Tadashi questioned, gazing around the bare room.

"A lab. On an island outside San Fransokyo. We should be safe here. Krei Tech abandoned this place years ago. And once we complete my project, we'll have enough to make sure he's brought to justice."

Tadashi swallowed the growing lump in his throat. "And what is this project, exactly?"

"Did you ever hear of Silent Sparrow?" the professor questioned. Tadashi shook his head. "Of course not," Callaghan continued. "Krei had it swept under the rug when it went wrong. It was a government commissioned experiment on teleportation technology. It worked well in early testing but something went wrong during the live demonstration..."

"What happened?"

"There was an anomaly. Something off about the device. Krei opted to send the test pilot through anyway. She was lost. The portal collapsed and the device imploded on itself. She died in there. And Krei paid off his government friends to hide all evidence of his involvement. The island was placed under quarantine. And that's where we are now."

Tadashi frowned. It didn't add up somehow but his grief clouded his judgment. "What do you want me to do?"

"I managed to sneak onto this island to look into the disaster. I just knew that Krei had to be hiding something and I needed something that would get him off the back of SFIT's science and technology department for good. I was able to decrypt the plans for the device stored on one of the computers in the lab and I noticed a few errors in the calculations. I want you to help me to rework the calculations so that we can get the device up and running. Then, we can take our evidence to the public. Show them the skeletons in Krei's closet. He'll be ruined, probably even put in jail. He'll finally pay for all the ethics he's disregarded, all the lives he's destroyed. And humanity will have teleportation. You told me when you were first accepted to SFIT that you wanted to help people, Tadashi. Help me and help society. Help us all by revealing the true nature of Alistair Krei and Krei Tech. You were always one of my brightest. What do you say?"

Tadashi hesitated. He couldn't think clearly but he _knew _he wasn't getting the full story. Why was Callaghan so intent on avenging Hiro and countless others through this one failed device? Why did he want it up and running? Couldn't he just reveal the files he recovered to the world and let the truth speak for itself? And yet…the implications of teleportation were far greater than simply ruining Alistair Krei. "I'll help you," he finally said. "For Hiro."

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><p><strong>AN: So there you go! Part one of Tadashi's side of the story is complete. Next chapter will contain the rest of Tadashi's story and then we'll jump back to Hiro. I hope this clears some things up as to why Tadashi would help Callaghan re-engineer the portal. That Callaghan! So conniving and manipulative. (I confess I enjoyed making him even darker in this piece than he was portrayed in the film) Let me know what you liked, disliked, think I should improve, etc. I hope to have another update for you guys tomorrow or the day after—my professors have finally started to lay off on the work now that the semester is almost over so I will hopefully find more time to write. Thank you!**


	3. Revelations

**A/N: Hi guys! I promised an update ASAP so here it is! Thanks for all your kind remarks in the reviews! I really do appreciate the feedback and please don't stop—it's no secret that reviews are always encouraging. Also, virtual cookie for anyone who gets the title reference. Anyway, here's part two of Tadashi's story. After this, we'll head back to Hiro's side of things and go from there. A lot of you are clamoring for a reunion… so stay tuned! I only see this story going up to five or six chapters max so things should move pretty quickly next chapter on.**

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><p>There were quite a few errors in the calculations, as it turned out. Tadashi was poring over every number, every equation, checking and double-checking. <em>Who worked these numbers? There's so many sloppy mistakes.<em>

In truth, he was grateful to be helping Callaghan on this project. It kept his mind and his hands busy. And he knew what would happen if his mind wasn't distracted. Even now, weeks after he had learned what happened, he caught himself thinking of Hiro from time-to-time. And whenever he thought of his little brother, he felt a crippling anguish build up inside of him. His heart would drop into his stomach again and he would feel a sharp pang in his chest. No matter how many times he heard it, thought about it, knew it, it still came as a surprise to realize that he would never see Hiro again. It still brought fresh pain.

And when it happened, his knees would go weak. He would slump against a table or on the computer he was working at. Defeated groans or sobs of grief would alternately escape from his lips and he would inevitably have to go lie down, utterly incapable of continuing to work. Callaghan would look on him with forlorn eyes, pat him on the shoulder every now and then, but could offer nothing in the way of comfort.

So Tadashi was grateful for the challenging work presented to him because the more occupied he was thinking about it, the less occupied he was thinking about… _Hiro_.

He could feel the grief rising up in his chest, burning his throat, stinging at the back of his eyes. He was paralyzed, staring blankly at the computer screen in front of him, not blinking, letting the glaringly white screen burn his eyes until he could see spots of purple and green swimming in front of his vision. He had to will himself to move, to pull away from the computer and drag himself to the exam bed he now slept on regularly. He slumped into it, resting his head in his hands. He didn't even have the energy to cry anymore. Just a growing emptiness inside.

Callaghan walked in. Tadashi wasn't sure where he went during the day. The professor had warned him not to go venturing far outside this wing of the labs—he could get lost or accidentally stumble into a dangerous situation. The lab had been abandoned for years. He didn't much like the idea of the older man doing exactly what he told him not to, but he had to admit Callaghan knew his way around better. Tadashi knew the man was secretly leaving the island to scrounge up supplies from time-to-time. He hated the idea but again, he had to admit that Callaghan was probably better at being discreet. And they needed food if they ever planned on finishing this portal and proving to the world that Krei was dangerous.

"How's it coming, Tadashi?" Callaghan asked kindly, dropping a brown paper bag beside his student.

"Fine," Tadashi shook his head glumly.

"Another bad day?"

"Seems there's more bad ones than good ones," the student replied mournfully.

Callaghan sat down beside Tadashi and put an arm around him encouragingly. "I know. I felt the same way when I lost Abigail."

"Abigail?"

The older man nodded. "My daughter."

"I'm sorry…" Tadashi murmured distractedly. "You...you never told me much about her."

"I don't like to talk about her, honestly," Callaghan replied. "But you and I have suffered a similar loss, Tadashi. Abigail's death…well it almost made me quit my job. I was ready to throw in the towel, go home and stay in bed all the time. And then where would we be? I miss her _every day _but you know what? You know why I pushed through? For her. To honor her. I knew she wouldn't want me to give up so easily. And I think the same could be said for your brother. What would Hiro think if he saw you moping around like this?"

Tadashi sighed. "I guess you're right. He'd tell me to get up and do something."

The professor nodded approvingly, rising from his seat. "I think that's a good attitude to have. The sooner we get this portal complete, the sooner we can get out of here. What do you say?" he asked, crossing over to the computer he had moved into the room so Tadashi could work there.

"It's coming along," the student responded, feeling a little refreshed and rising as well. "I'm nearly done. I think I've fixed most of the errors. But there's still the issue of designing and rebuilding the device."

Callaghan smiled. "You leave that to me, Tadashi. I've been scrounging up materials while you've been working on the calculations and I think everything's nearly in order. I can't tell you how much of a help you've been. I never would have been able to get done this quickly without your help."

"I just want to put Krei away before he can hurt anyone else," Tadashi replied simply.

"In due time," the professor answered. "Krei will get what's coming to him. I have to go now—I hear there's a supply of metals on the other side of the island. Keep working on it, Tadashi. We're almost there."

With that, the older man departed, leaving Tadashi alone. _Almost there_. He frowned at the equations. _Almost done. And then we can expose Krei for what he truly is._

_Hiro could have figured this out in a day. It's been almost two weeks and I'm still not done. _Hiro had always been his motivation to do better. Tadashi may have been older, but there was never a question in either brother's mind of who was the smarter one. He would be lying if he said he didn't envy his little brother at points, but for the most part there was an understanding, a respect, a love for one another. And he was always so proud to brag about his little brother. His accomplishments. His projects. Hiro's glory was Tadashi's glory. _Stop it. _He knew he was going to start crying any minute if he continued this train of thought. So for the first time in two weeks, Tadashi Hamada forced down his emotions, steeled himself, and continued on with his work, confident that if he just channeled his inner Hiro, he would hit upon the solution soon.

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><p>"Excellent work, Tadashi," Callaghan looked up from the printout of the corrected calculations. "You're sure these are correct?"<p>

Tadashi nodded apprehensively. "I checked and re-checked, Professor."

The older man nodded. "Good. Then we can get to work on actually building the thing. I have the parts we need. I was able to scavenge most of them from the island. We're still missing a few things—I'll handle sourcing the parts if you could get started on the construction."

"But Professor," the student interrupted, "these plans call for a lot of big parts. There's no way I could lift the materials and build this thing on my own."

"I thought about that, and I think I have the solution. The test chamber where the failed live test occurred was designed specifically to build and contain the device. The original robots used in construction are still there. It's right up the hall. We can put the whole thing together there."

Tadashi let the professor lead him into the large chamber, giving him an idea of just how large this facility must be. He still hadn't ventured outside this wing, hadn't opened any doors. He was too preoccupied. The room was massive and it looked like a tornado had passed through it. There was debris everywhere and marks on the wall where something had very clearly gone wrong.

Callaghan sighed. "A young woman lost her life here, Tadashi. She was just trying to help advance the field of technology. Krei's unsound science killed her. Just like it killed your brother. And soon, we'll be able to make all of that right."

He didn't want to admit it, but the way the professor had been talking lately made Tadashi nervous. It seemed like the man was getting more and more fanatical every day. What had started out as a simple plan to expose the dangers of Krei Tech suddenly seemed much, much different. And if it weren't for the fact that Alistair Krei had killed his own brother, Tadashi was sure he would have left by now.

"I'll…see what I can do with the designs, Professor," he told the older man. "You should probably look around for the other materials we'll need." He suddenly felt the urge to get as far away from the professor as he could. He knew it was a stupid fear, but he felt it anyway.

He watched as Callaghan stepped out of the room, a growing sense of uneasiness filling him.

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><p>It had been nearly a month. The portal was nearing completion. Callaghan had been bringing a steady supply of materials to Tadashi, who operated the machinery in the testing chamber to assemble the massive device. He had seen the plans, but somehow the teleportation device looked much bigger in person. Whether or not it worked remained to be seen, although the professor had informed him that he had already completed the transportation pod on his own. According to the plans, the pod could induce hyper-sleep and navigate the course of the portal on autopilot, thereby reducing the risk that the pilot would become severely disoriented or even die. Soon they would find out just how well those systems worked. He was assembling one side of the ring-shaped portal gateway when he reached for a another rivet and came up empty.<p>

"Professor?" Tadashi called. "Professor Callaghan?"

His voice echoed through the room but there was no response. He turned and walked toward the closed door, throwing it open and calling again. "Professor?" Still no answer.

Tadashi wandered down the white-washed corridor, darkened due to the fact that all extra power was being diverted to the testing facility. The hallway was bathed in a panicky red light that would previously have indicated emergencies. "Professor Callaghan? Are you here?"

He checked the room he had first woken up in, but the man was not there. He tried calling out into the corridor again but his shouts elicited no response. Against Callaghan's instructions, Tadashi began opening up doors.

The first few revealed nothing interesting. Supply closets, polished white laboratories that contained nothing but empty shelves and empty counters, and what appeared to be a room that would have been used to house animals, also empty. _He must be out collecting parts. Who knows when he'll be back? They're just rivets. This place has got to have some extras somewhere._

Deciding he would scrounge them up himself, he returned to the supply closets he found earlier. None of them contained any building materials of any kind—just mops, brooms, and half-used cleaning supplies. He made his way down the hall, opening each door and peering in. Finally, he reached the last door in the wing and slowly pushed it open. He gasped.

Unlike the other rooms, this one was not empty. He guessed Callaghan was using it. It was decorated in the same, sterile, institutional theme—white tile floor, white walls, white ceiling tiles. The counters, however, were covered in papers, books, and some stray building supplies. Tadashi felt strange and disrespectful entering his professor's room like this—it was an invasion of privacy after all—but if this device was going to get built, he was going to need some rivets. He resolved to do a quick scan of the room. If he didn't see any obvious signs of the hardware he needed, he would leave. And he wouldn't touch anything.

A slow pace around Callaghan's room seemed to turn up no results. Tadashi was about to leave when he spotted something on one of the counters, right beside a portable computer station. It was oblong, black, and shiny. _Is that…?_

Unable to resist, Tadashi stepped closer and scooped the object off the table to inspect it more closely. _A microbot?! What's Callaghan doing with one of Hiro's inventions?_

The device twitched, causing the young man to drop it in surprise. It clattered onto the keyboard of the computer, causing the screen of the device to illuminate. There was a video up on the console. It looked like one of the clips he had briefly seen a thumbnail of when he was scanning the computer files for the plans to the teleporter. He hadn't viewed any of the videos but suddenly felt compelled to. There had to be a reason Callaghan had been viewing the footage. Maybe it would reveal something about why the professor was acting so strange. Or at the very least show him what else needed to be done to complete the project.

He hesitated. Was this right? But then again, Callaghan was in possession of one of the microbots. _He needs to explain that._ Deciding not to risk getting caught in the man's room, Tadashi quickly slipped his little brother's invention into his pocket and exited. He made a beeline for the lab that was now his room, shutting the door behind him quietly and heading straight for his computer station.

He pulled up all the files relating to the teleportation device. According to Callaghan, most of the computers had been wiped when the lab was abandoned. A few, however, were missed during the rush to leave the island. The files had been encrypted but the professor was easily able to decrypt them for their own use. Tadashi's eyes scanned the files until he finally hit upon a folder titled "Test_Footage_Cam1." He could feel a lump rising in his throat as he clicked on the filename. A video appeared on the screen.

Tadashi watched in horror and fascination as the clip showed the portal going live. Krei was there, along with a military general and his aide. The industrialist took the general's hat, tossed it like a Frisbee into the portal, and caught it as it was expelled from the second gateway. The spectators looked impressed and Tadashi himself was quite amazed. Sure, in theory the device was supposed to work. But seeing it function was entirely different.

The next segment of the clip showed a female test pilot that couldn't be much older than he was climbing into a pod similar to what Callaghan had described and completed. The camera cut to the control room, where Krei, the general and his aide, and several scientists were monitoring the portal's readings. The pod rolled slowly toward the gateway and stopped, waiting to launch. One of the scientists reported an anomaly. Suddenly, Tadashi's heart was pounding. Even though Callaghan had told him how the test ended, it was much more harrowing to see the people involved. _Am I about to see someone die?_

Krei gave the go-ahead for launch anyway, despite the abnormal readings. The pilot had consented. There was no going back. Tadashi's eyes were glued to the screen as he watched the pod launch straight into the teleporter. There was a flash of light that nearly blinded him, even though it was only on a screen. Then the camera began to shake as the teleporter broke apart. A second flash. The audio picked up screaming as the people in the control room braced themselves. Then the screen faded to black, leaving the young man's heart racing. A cold sweat began to form on his brow, his back. This was how the last test had ended. He had just watched Krei's recklessness contribute directly to a woman's death. But it didn't explain the microbot, or Callaghan's obsession with justice.

Shakily, Tadashi closed out of the video, found another one labeled "Test_Footage_Cam2" and opened it. At first, it showed Krei meeting the general and the aide. The time stamp indicated that this footage was taken almost a full hour before the test went horribly wrong. They were shaking hands onscreen and then the businessman led the two toward the device. There was nothing very interesting about the footage. It didn't reveal anything new. Tadashi was about to close out of the window when he spotted something in the background that made his heart stop.

_Professor Callaghan?! _

Sure enough, the professor was present in the background, talking with the test pilot. _What's he doing here? _He suddenly felt a whole lot more uneasy. Then Callaghan _embraced _the pilot and headed up to the control room. The young woman turned around and he got a clear view of her name, emblazoned on her test suit. _Callaghan_.

"Abigail?" Tadashi gasped.

"I really wish you hadn't seen that, Tadashi."

The voice was unmistakable Callaghan's. The student started to turn to confront the man when something collided with the back of his head. He felt a brief moment of panic, of dizziness, of falling. And then everything was dark.

* * *

><p>When Tadashi woke up, he was restrained. His arms and legs were immobilized. <em>What the—? <em>The grogginess dissipated suddenly as his mind snapped back into focus. _Callaghan!_

The young man looked around. Everything was distorted and his only view of the room in front of him was through a window of some kind. It was another lab—he could see the cold, colorless walls, now tinted slightly due to the screen, and he had a full view of the door, which was shut. He turned his head, saw that he was being confined in an oblong space. There were straps restraining his arms, legs, and torso, keeping him in a seat.

"Where am I?" he said out loud, his voice sounding strangely muffled. The space reminded him of the tunnels on playground jungle gyms when he was a kid, only much more ominous. He began struggling with the straps, trying to wriggle free but to no avail.

"Stop struggling, Tadashi," a muffled voice from outside commanded.

"Callaghan!" Tadashi exclaimed, instinctively knowing who it was that was imprisoning him.

"I was really hoping you wouldn't come across those video files," the man said.

"The test pilot who died…that was your daughter!"

"Yes." The man turned, started heading for the door.

It all added up now. Callaghan wasn't on some crusade to better the world and take down a dangerous man. He was out to avenge his daughter. And he wouldn't use that portal for good. That much Tadashi was sure of. And in his grief, in his urge to do something to commemorate Hiro, he had unwittingly helped him. _I'm such an idiot_.

But something didn't add up. "Why do you have my brother's microbots?"

The professor stopped in his tracks. "You went into my room?"

Tadashi suddenly felt very cold. "I was looking for rivets. Why do you have Hiro's invention?" he demanded icily.

Part of him hoped that maybe, just maybe, Callaghan was lying about his brother's death to elicit his own cooperation. That maybe he had bought the devices from Hiro, or that Hiro was also an unwitting accomplice to the professor's plans, building the devices for the man in the same way Tadashi had built most of the teleporter. He had lied about everything else. Maybe he lied about this, too.

"After the fire, I saved the microbots that weren't damaged. I brought them with me, reverse engineered them."

"Why?"

"I suppose it doesn't matter now," the professor shook his head in exasperation.

_He's going to kill me._

"I plan to use the microbots to aid me when I confront Krei. Thanks to you, the teleporter is nearly complete and in much faster time than I could ever have done on my own. And once I finish it, I'm going to show Alistair Krei exactly what it's like to see everything you love break apart." There was a foreign darkness in Callaghan's voice, one Tadashi had never heard before.

_It's alright if he kills me._

"What happened to ethics? What happened to using sound science?" Tadashi challenged, angry and defiant. If he was going to die anyway, he intended to express the extent of Callaghan's betrayal beforehand.

"Why don't you ask Krei about ethics and sound science?"

"How dare you? Hiro would never have wanted his microbots to be used for something like this. They were supposed to _help _people!" Tadashi was kicking and struggling with his restraints now, a sense of frantic rage overcoming him.

"Hiro is _dead _Tadashi. Just like Abigail," Callaghan had turned around, was now inches from the glass. "If you really loved him you would be on board with me."

"No," Tadashi answered. "If you really loved Abigail then you wouldn't be doing this."

Shock registered on the professor's face and Tadashi felt a growing sense of smug pride. Callaghan was going to kill him, this much he was sure of. But that was okay. He would see Hiro again. And he had every intent of leaving the man with a lasting impression in the meantime.

The older man was silent a moment, a look of resentment plastered across his features. "I'm going to go deal with that portal," he finally spoke. "I'll deal with you later."

The man moved toward the door but stopped just short, picking up a device that looked like a remote control and aiming it straight for…whatever Tadashi was being contained in. A mist began to fill the enclosed space. Tadashi coughed, could feel himself slipping under. The world was spinning, his peripheral vision going dark. He closed his eyes. _I'll see you soon, Hiro._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So now you know why Tadashi helped Callaghan… Did you like this chapter? It took me a while to get it right but I'm pretty happy with it. I bet you know what happens next… What's Callaghan trapped Tadashi in? Will they ever be reunited? What if he's actually dead?! All this and more will be revealed soon, I promise. Please leave a review and tell me anything you liked or disliked! **


	4. Seeking, Finding

**A/N: Wow! You guys are blowing me away with your kind words! Thanks so much for all the reviews—I tried to read and respond to every one that I could. It really makes my day. So for all my anon reviewers and the ones that I couldn't message: thank you so much for your support! I promised big things once we got into Hiro's perspective again, and I hope I can deliver on them. Hope you enjoy this one!**

**ALSO: There are some hints of Tadahoney in this… Fan service (and I ship it). Nothing heavy-handed but it's there if you read into it.**

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><p>"How do you know he's telling the truth, Hiro? He's a <em>criminal<em>," Wasabi emphasized the word with a frantic look in his eyes. He'd been a superhero for a year and he still couldn't get over his fear of confrontation.

"I agree with Wasabi, Hiro," Honey Lemon spoke up gently. "We were on the island before and there was no sign of Tadashi." She rested a slender hand on the boy's shoulder. "I really miss him too, but what if all you find there is pain?" Her green eyes were watering up behind her pink-framed glasses.

"But what if he's there?" Hiro countered quietly, shoulders slumping with a growing sense of defeat. "What if we missed something?"

"Tadashi's our friend, guys," Fred spoke up from his place on the beanbag chair in Hiro's garage. "Sure Callaghan could be lying like always. But what if this time he's not?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I agree with Fred," GoGo said. "If Tadashi's alive, then he needs our help. Isn't it at least worth another look?"

Hiro's eyes lit up as the two spoke on his behalf. "So you'll go?"

"I'm in," GoGo affirmed.

"Rescue mission!" Fred cried with elation.

"Guys?" the boy looked at Wasabi and Honey Lemon.

"We're a team," the blonde spoke. "And if you're going to look for Tadashi, then we're all going to look for Tadashi, right Wasabi?"

"Uh, yeah…yeah I'm coming too," he answered after recovering from the shock of being put on the spot. He cleared his throat. "I'm in."

"Baymax?" All eyes turned to the inflatable robot standing quietly in the corner.

"I am your personal healthcare companion. Wherever you go, I will go."

Hiro could feel a surge of relief course through him. He wanted to cry for joy. There was a chance that his big brother was still alive and now his friends—the greatest friends in the world—were going to help him find Tadashi.

* * *

><p>The island appeared to be in similar shape to what it was when the team last saw it. In a state of disrepair, parts and pieces of long-abandoned projects strewn about, barbed wire, warning signs they had learned to ignore last time.<p>

"It's so big…where do we start?" Honey Lemon asked as Baymax landed in the center of the complex.

"Baymax, can you do a scan for any life forms on the island?" Hiro asked.

"Why certainly," the robot replied, activating his sensors. The group waited with baited breath. "My scan indicates that there are no life forms matching Tadashi's physical traits anywhere on this island. I am sorry, Hiro."

Hiro's face fell. "What? No, that's not possible. Callaghan said Tadashi was on the island. Check again!"

Baymax repeated his scan. "I am sorry, Hiro, but my scan has still come back negative. There are no human life forms anywhere on the island."

Hiro felt his knees give out from under him, slowly sinking to the ground. He could feel the tears gathering, stinging at the backs of his eyes. His face twitched and he felt strangled as he barely suppressed a sob. _Tadashi's here. He has to be! _He had gotten his hopes up so high. Could Callaghan really be so cruel? Was Tadashi really…_dead? No. No, Tadashi can't be dead. No! _Tadashi had promised to always be there for him. Ever since their parents died, Tadashi had been the only link he had to them, to his past. He was the only consistent person in his life besides Aunt Cass. He was his big brother, his idol, his _hero_. Tadashi was his _best friend_. And he thought he would die of loneliness, of grief this past year without him. He didn't want to face the prospect of having to live without his brother for the rest of his life. He had to be here. He had to be alive.

Honey Lemon placed a hand on the boy's shoulder gently. "I'm sorry, Hiro," she whispered. There was a hint of a tremble in her voice. Hiro refused to turn to look at her, afraid that seeing the pain undoubtedly written across her face would break him down to the point of crying. He had to stay strong. "I was really hoping he would be here too."

The team was silent, unsure of how to proceed.

Hiro stood, a determined look crossing his features. "No. Tadashi is here. He has to be. I _know _it! Maybe…maybe something's off with Baymax's sensors. He has to be here!" He kicked a pebble in frustration and sent is scuttling across the ground. "We just have to look."

"Hiro, I know you're hurting, man. But you heard Baymax. There's no human life here besides us," Wasabi said quietly.

"Wait, guys, wait," Freddy spoke up. "What if he is here and Baymax just can't sense him. What if he's in a super, top-secret dungeon where no one on the outside world can find him. Classic villain move. There's probably a secret door somewhere." The blue-costumed hero dropped to his hands and knees and began frantically scratching and searching the ground.

Honey Lemon sighed sadly, her tall frame wilting. "Freddy…"

"No," GoGo stuck up a hand. "I can't believe I'm saying this _again_ but Fred's right. What if Callaghan hid Tadashi someplace where he thought no one could find him? Baymax's sensors are strong but there's always a chance they aren't strong enough, right?"

"But even if that's the case, how are we gonna find Tadashi? This island is huge," Wasabi questioned.

"We should split up," Hiro suggested. "We can cover more ground."

"Split up?! That's the exact _opposite _of a good idea! Haven't you ever seen a horror movie? Don't you know what happens whenever the group splits up? One of them falls into a pit and gets buried alive. And another one gets locked in a room and the walls do that thing where they start to move together until one of them gets crushed to death. And then the ax murderer starts stalking them and—"

"Woman up!" GoGo interrupted him. "You're a superhero, not a super wimp. Wasabi and I'll go this way," she told the others, dragging the tall, green-clad hero with her.

"C'mon, Freddy," Honey Lemon said, taking Fred with her.

"Guess that leaves you and me, big guy," Hiro turned to Baymax. "Let's check around the lab where we found Callaghan the first time." Baymax deployed his wings and Hiro scrambled onto his back, locking himself into place. _I'm coming to find you Tadashi._

* * *

><p>"Man, I hope we find him," Fred turned to Honey Lemon as the two investigated a dusty, dark corridor.<p>

"Me, too," the blonde answered, her normally bubbly nature completely sapped out of her.

Fred took out a match, using his fireballs to light it and illuminate the way. The corridor appeared to have been used for storage. Boxes covered in dust cloths and sheets lined the walls and the whole place smelled musty.

"Tadashi?" Honey Lemon called. "Tadashi?" Silence.

"Hey, Tadashi? Are you in here?" Fred joined. He let out a shriek as something scuttled across his feet.

"What is it?" Honey Lemon asked, startled.

Her companion shined the light of the match towards the ground, revealing a pair of beady red eyes a large, dark-colored creature scurried away. "R-r-r-rat!" Fred screamed, hopping from foot to foot. "Get 'em off, get 'em off, get 'em off, get 'em off!"

Honey grabbed her cell phone and turned on the flashlight feature, shining it across the floor and along the walls. "I don't see anything," she said. "Let's keep looking."

"Remember that road trip we took? To the National Park? The week after orientation?" Fred asked.

"I remember," she answered, a ghost of smile passing over her lips. "I remember how we all met, too."

"You guys thought I was a student till Callaghan pointed it out," Fred chuckled. "Turns out I'm just the greatest mascot _ever_."

The chemist didn't hear him prattle on. She was lost in memory. She had first met Tadashi on the day of orientation, when all of the science majors were introduced to the lab and to Dr. Callaghan, among others. He had been standing right next to her and casually struck up a conversation, introduced himself, asked what her major was. And he had offered to help her out if she ever needed anything. Tadashi was her first new friend at SFIT and losing him had caused her to lose sleep, feel sick. He was, above all, a kind person—the kind of person that reassured Honey Lemon that her faith in humanity was well-placed. The last year had felt like a dream. A bad dream that she was floating through. Hearing Hiro retell his experience when he confronted Callaghan had filled her with hope for a brief moment, but she was guarded against getting her hopes up now. Losing Tadashi once was bad enough. Losing him again? She wasn't sure she could tolerate that.

"…and then Tadashi goes 'dude, that's not a tree squirrel, that's a _possum_' and the thing goes crazy in my arms and tries to rip my face off. Best. Trip. Ever." Fred concluded his story about the road trip with a slight chuckle. It was completely atypical for the jokester, who usually cracked up every time he retold his memories of the trip and when Honey Lemon looked up at him, she was surprised to see that he was crying.

* * *

><p>"Find anything?" Wasabi questioned as GoGo sped past him, completed a final lap of the room, and returned to him.<p>

"Nothing," she answered, somewhat dejectedly. "He's got to be here _somewhere_," she insisted. "Tadashi? Tadashi where are you?"

Wasabi shoved a heavy crate out of the way, rearranging the abandoned laboratory that appeared to have become a storage room. "I got nothing," he sighed in exasperation. "All these crates are full of old science equipment."

"We have to keep looking," GoGo replied, making ready to head off another lap of the corridor. Wasabi reached out, grabbed her shoulder to stop her. "Let me go!" she demanded.

"What if we don't find him?" he asked bluntly.

GoGo put her hands on her hips and stared at her friend defiantly. "What do you mean? Of course we'll find him," she answered testily, masking her own concerns.

"But what if…I don't wanna say it but what if…Callaghan was lying this whole time. What if Tadashi's not here? What if he…well you know…" he questioned. "What then?"

"Callaghan wouldn't lie about that. What good could come of it? He emotionally destroys Hiro again? What does he have to gain?" She asked the questions but she could feel her own doubt starting to creep in. _What if Tadashi really is gone?_

GoGo didn't want to consider that reality. She had never had an easy time making friends. Sure there was Honey Lemon, who she had known well before college and who was nice to everyone, but aside from that, most girls seemed to be put off by her hardened demeanor and most boys were intimidated by her. She was used to being alone. And when she met Tadashi Hamada at orientation, she had expected him to treat her like everyone else. Instead, he'd been friendly to her, interested in her industrial engineering ambition. No one had every shown interest in her hobbies. And when she found out he wanted to trade his moped for a motorcycle soon, she decided he was an acceptable friend to have. Over the course of the next week, they had quickly accrued a dysfunctional family of friends, Tadashi becoming the glue that held the group together. She had never felt more accepted in her life. Tadashi had never abandoned her. And she wasn't going to abandon him now. He had to be alive. He _had _to be.

"I don't know," Wasabi shrugged. "But there's a lot about him we never knew." The pair moved on down the hall to the next room.

It wasn't that Wasabi didn't _want _to believe Callaghan was telling the truth. But everything he had believed in—everything that had given him security—had been tipped upside down in the past year. Professor Callaghan, icon, legend, _mentor_, had turned out to be a vengeful villain. A truly bad guy. Responsible for Tadashi's death. So Wasabi had a tough time believing him. He had always had a tough time trusting people anyway. Most people would come into his life, stay for only a bit, and then become put off by his neurotic tendencies. He couldn't control those tendencies, but it didn't stop people from rejecting him for them anyway. So when Tadashi had first started talking to him, Wasabi was afraid that their friendship would end up the same way. Instead, Tadashi had been more than receptive of his hyper-organization, and even respectful of it. The third day of class in the lab, he had needed to borrow a screwdriver. Wasabi was amazed when Tadashi returned the tool, carefully laying it down in its labeled spot, point sticking out to match all of the other ones. As the group grew, Wasabi found himself becoming less self-conscious of his OCD. He felt respected, not judged, and he felt _safe _with these people. He owed it all to Tadashi Hamada. So if Tadashi was alive, he had every intention of helping to find him. But Callaghan had betrayed them once already, making it that much harder for the applied physics major to put stock in anything the man said.

* * *

><p>Hiro was getting frantic. "Tadashi?! Tadashi?!" he was calling his brother's name over and over again as he and Baymax proceeded down the hall from the test chamber, now torn apart and littered with rubble. The narrow corridor was illuminated in an eerie red glow from the emergency lighting. It was the only part of the complex still powered.<p>

"Tadashi, _please_," the boy was practically begging now. "You have to be here. You _have _to be."

He remembered how he felt when his brother was out late—usually cramming for finals with his friends in the library. Even though it was a temporary state of affairs, he still felt worry whenever Tadashi was out late. He didn't really know his parents—he was so young when they died—but Tadashi was always the one to tell him about them. He was some combination of a big brother, a best friend, and a father. When he was being bullied in school, he could count on Tadashi to comfort him, make him feel a little less stupid for being smart. When he had a bad nightmare, he could always count on Tadashi to make space in his bed and let Hiro crawl in to sleep beside him. He never felt judged. And he had felt so empty without him for a year now. He was afraid of what it would mean if Tadashi was really gone forever. Forever was such a long time.

"_Please_," Hiro begged again, barely above a whisper. They had searched high and low without any sign of his big brother. A tear dripped down his face, got caught up in his helmet. Then another. "Guys," he activated the communicator to speak to the rest of the team, "_please _tell me you found something."

"I'm sorry, Hiro," Honey Lemon's dejected voice came through.

"We searched the entire south and west end of the complex," Wasabi spoke. "Nothing."

"We're heading over to you now," GoGo added.

"There's no sign of Tadashi anywhere," Wasabi told Hiro glumly once the group had reconvened in the hallway outside the testing chamber.

Hiro nodded and sniffled, trying to hide how badly it hurt.

"Hiro, I wish we could help more but we're tired. I want to stay and look but I can't keep moving at this speed," GoGo admitted.

"We can't give up now," Fred insisted. "This is the part where everyone feels like it's hopeless but a _hero _convinces them not to quit." He leaned against a wall and let out a loud cry of surprise when part of the drywall gave way behind him, revealing a set of steps. "Whoa, awesome," he whispered in amazement, peering down the dark flight of stairs.

"What is that?" Wasabi joined him.

"Stairs," Hiro suddenly looked much livelier. "Maybe they'll lead to where Tadashi is!"

"Hiro," Honey Lemon warned, fearing the boy wouldn't be able to take anymore disappointment, "don't get your hopes up too—"

But the boy was already dashing down the stairs.

"Secret passage! This rules!" Fred cheered, following Hiro down. The others quickly followed, with Baymax bringing up the rear, shuffling stiffly down the steps.

The stairs led to a bunker, fortified with thick, concrete walls. "The walls are so thick," the boy genius observed. "That must be why Baymax's sensors didn't pick up anything. Baymax, scan for Tadashi again!"

The robot activated his scanning protocol again. There was a brief pause, then suddenly, "Tadashi is here."

Hiro's heart skipped a beat. _Tadashi? _It was true! It was really true! His brother was here, somewhere! An impossible combination of emotions—relief, elation, confusion, and above all _love _overwhelmed him so that he was tearing up again. Tadashi's loss had been so rough on him and now Baymax was telling him what he had been hoping all along—he wouldn't have to live without his big brother forever.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Wasabi intervened. "Just a few minutes ago Baymax's sensors weren't picking up anything. Are you _sure _it wasn't a mistake?"

"Tadashi is here," Baymax repeated, asserting himself. He moved toward a metal door that presumably led to an inner room of the bunker and indicated it. "Tadashi is here. In here."

Hiro could barely contain himself. He couldn't believe it. "Baymax, rocket fist!"

The robot activated his weapon and directed it straight at the door. Nothing happened. The boy let out a sharp cry of disappointment.

"I am sorry, Hiro. The door is too strong for my rocket fist to break through."

"Stand back," Honey Lemon approached the door, a determined look on her face. "Baymax's rocket fist might not work, but I bet this door won't be able to stand up to hydrofluoric acid." She keyed in a few components on her purse and carefully extracted an orb, which she promptly hurled at the door's lock. The orb burst, dripping the dangerous acid all over the metal. The acid began to eat into the door's metal, breaking the lock straight off.

Hiro gingerly pushed the door open and was confronted with a fully-powered, well-lit room. _The bunker must have its own power source. _Remnants of the teleportation device were strewn about everywhere—blueprints, discs.

"Tadashi's vital signs indicate he is in a state of hyper-sleep," Baymax informed helpfully.

_Hyper-sleep? _Hiro's eyes scanned the room until he spotted an enclosed cell similar to the one they had rescued Abigail from. "The pod!"

The six rushed to the white, shuttle-like vehicle. Hiro approached the glass windshield carefully, his heart racing and a lump quickly forming in his throat. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to find as he slowly pressed his head against the glass and peered in.

_Tadashi!_

There, in the pod, was his brother. He was restrained and completely unconscious, being kept barely alive by the hyper-sleep ability. But he was there. The tears of joy and relief and wonder and…some other indescribably happy emotion streamed from his eyes before he could do anything about it. He had believed. He had hoped. But seeing his big brother there was the confirmation he needed.

"He's here," he whispered softly as the others crowded around to see with their own eyes, each feeling his or her own version of relief and joy. "We need to wake him up," Hiro added, his sense of amazement giving way to an intense desire to see his brother, to speak to him, to hug him, to feel his skin and hear him breathe and speak just to verify that this wasn't some dream he would wake up from. That Tadashi was real and really here.

"You should do it, Hiro," GoGo looked at the boy with a sense of awe that was unusual on her normally stoic features. "We'll wait outside. You two need a moment alone."

Hiro nodded gratefully. "Thank you," he spoke in barely above a whisper, hardly able to keep his composure. His friends left the room with Baymax in tow. Slowly, Hiro approached the pod and activated its emergency release. A light mist emanated from the machine, making him cough. He watched Tadashi lie motionless for a moment, fear taking hold as he quickly cut his brother out of the restraints and hoped he would awaken. If Abigail had been in hyper-sleep for a number of years, surely Tadashi could have made it, right?

"Tadashi?" he whispered softly as the older Hamada began to stir. "Tadashi!" Hiro cried with joy, warm tears blurring his vision to the point that his brother was just a blob of color.

Slowly, groggily, Tadashi sat up in the pod. "Hiro? Hiro is that you?" he asked.

"It's me! It's me!" Hiro answered, throwing his arms around his brother, feeling his heartbeat and ascertaining that he was, in fact alive. "It's you," he said softly, unable to control the tears that were freely flowing now. Not that he wanted them to stop. "It's really you."

Tadashi gripped his younger brother tightly, held him close. "Hiro," he whispered. "Am I—am I dead?" he questioned, suddenly very confused.

Hiro pulled back from the embrace enough to look his brother in the eye. "No," he answered, tears still streaming. "No, you're alive! It's you. It's really you and you're really alive!" He threw himself back into his brother's arms, reveled in the feeling of having his big brother hug him back almost too tightly.

"But, how…?" Tadashi began to ask.

Hiro didn't pull back this time, just let himself hang there over Tadashi's shoulder and soak in the first physical contact he'd had with his brother in far too long. "There's a lot I have to explain…later."

For now, all he wanted to focus on was the fact that Tadashi was back. Hiro's big brother, his best friend _was back._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: You were all clamoring for a reunion. I hope this did justice to your expectations. Was it what you were hoping for? Please let me know in a review. I also really tried to add some depth and background to the others' relationship with Tadashi. I felt like that aspect wasn't explored enough in the movie. Did you like that part? This is the second-to-last chapter. Next chapter will be the epilogue to tie up loose ends. In the meantime, please leave a review and, once again, thank you all for your kind words that keep me going and encouraging me to write!**


	5. Epilogue

**A/N: Hi everyone! So I know this is going to be a bit of a disappointment probably, but this is the last chapter! This chapter will be a bit of an epilogue to wrap up what happened throughout the story. Now that the brothers are reunited, we can finally give them a happy ending! Based on how well you all seemed to take this story, I'm definitely planning to write more for this fandom! You've all been so nice to me so I'm excited to see where else my muse will take me. So tell me in a review what else you'd like to see me write for Big Hero 6? Angst? Romance? Adventure? I'm open to suggestions! Thanks, guys.**

**ALSO: this is set up more like a series of drabbles as the brothers get reacquainted with one another, so pardon the choppiness. It jumps around in timeframe a lot and gives little snapshots of their first couple of weeks back together.**

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><p>That first night (and the next few nights) Hiro slept in Tadashi's bed beside his big brother, just to be sure that he wasn't going anywhere. He had missed him so much and just lying down next to him, hearing him breathe, seeing the gentle rise and fall of Tadashi's chest reassured him that his brother was here, alive, <em>real. <em>Aunt Cass had been an emotional wreck when the two had first walked in. Hiro realized they owed her an explanation but wasn't sure how to brooch it. He just knew they couldn't lie. There was no lying about this. He had to start from the beginning. So with their aunt sobbing, gasping, in shock and in joy on the sofa, he recounted every event since Tadashi had been presumed dead as his brother put an arm around her gently to comfort her. When he finished, Aunt Cass looked like a deer in headlights, completely stunned, tears silently rolling off her cheeks as she clutched first at her eldest nephew, held him close as if to ascertain his existence, then her youngest, enveloping him in a tight, warm hug as her tears seeped into his sweatshirt, left dark water spots.

Hiro lay awake as Tadashi slept fitfully, still a little afraid that he would fall asleep and wake up to find that this was all just a dream. When morning came, however, he awoke with a start, surprised he had let himself nod off. The bed was empty aside from him. "Tadashi?" he questioned softly, suddenly filled with a sense of dread. "Tadashi?"

"Hiro?" His brother was standing in the doorway, hair tussled from sleep. "I-I didn't want to wake you up…"

The younger brother let out a sigh of relief.

"I was just getting to know my way around the house again," Tadashi explained with a wan smile. "It…it's been a while."

The fourteen year old smiled his gap-toothed grin as the familiar joy that had flooded him since his brother's return filled him once more. He leapt out of bed and practically tackled Tadashi with a hug. "It's really you," he said.

"Yeah, buddy, it's really me," Tadashi answered, embracing his brother.

"They told me you died. I thought you were dead," Hiro sniffled, the familiar tears threatening to break loose again. He hadn't gotten the full story from his brother, hadn't even asked. He was too busy reveling in the feeling of having him again.

Tadashi's expression got cloudy. "Hiro…"

"What?"

"It's just…I…Callaghan told me that _you _were dead." He watched his little brother's face register shock. He didn't want to tell him but he felt he had to. "He told me…he told me you ran in after me and that…" he gulped, "well, you know. I got knocked out by a falling beam and he…he used your microbots to shield the both of us but h-he said that he couldn't get to you in time."

Hiro wasn't used to seeing Tadashi cry. He had cried at their initial reunion, but only a little. Now, as he confessed what had happened, it looked like his older brother would never _stop _crying. "It was my fault. It was all my fault. I-I rushed in there and I didn't even think about you."

"You did the right thing," the younger brother tried to comfort him.

"Did I?" Tadashi asked, somewhat forcefully. "I thought I lost you, Hiro. I thought you were gone forever and it was all my fault."

"Callaghan lied to you, Tadashi. It wasn't your fault that he did that!"

"But what if he wasn't lying? What if you actually did…_die_? The whole time…all I could think about was you. After Mom and Dad died, it was me who was supposed to be looking out for you, Hiro. It was _my _responsibility. And what if I really had let you down? What would I be? I don't want that to ever happen to you! You're my little brother…I can't let that happen to you." His voice was hoarse and ragged, strangled in his throat by sobs trying to wrench their way past his lips as he blamed himself for something that hadn't even come true. "I love you, Hiro," Tadashi hugged his brother with renewed strength and the boy reciprocated.

"Tadashi," Hiro whispered. "When you ran into the fire and the building exploded…I thought you were gone forever. I-I…didn't know what it was like to lose Mom and Dad. I was too young but you…I couldn't sleep. I couldn't eat. I was scared and alone and I _wanted _to die. And…" he swallowed hard. He hadn't told anyone this part. No one knew besides his friends who had been there. "I…did some really bad things…" He saw his brother's questioning look. "I reprogrammed Baymax. I put a chip in him to make him destroy the person who killed you! I took apart everything that you worked for and I…I told Baymax to kill Callaghan. I was so angry…and I would have let him do it if Honey Lemon didn't stop me…I'm so, so sorry! I just didn't know what else to do."

The older brother squeezed the younger one close to him. There was so much pain and hurt and…feelings that neither one could name.

"Tadashi?" Hiro asked, his voice suddenly serious and his brown eyes leveled with his older brother's, "why did you help him?"

It was a question he had struggled with since Callaghan had first revealed the possibility that Tadashi was still alive. Why would Tadashi help Callaghan build a device to be used for such evil purposes? Why would his brother, the definition of _good guy _be an accomplice in all that?

Tadashi sighed guiltily. "I didn't know what he was planning. I should've known but I pretended not to see it." His voice was filled with self-reproach. "He told me you died and that _Krei _was the one responsible. He didn't know that Abigail survived the teleporter's collapse. He wanted revenge…and so did I. But I never thought he planned to kill Krei! I thought he was planning to reveal how dangerous he was and get him locked away. Or at least ruin his career so he couldn't possibly hurt anyone else. When I found out the truth…he locked me in the pod and put me in hyper-sleep so that I wouldn't reveal it."

Hiro was relieved. His brother had not been willingly complicit in the portal's ultimate use. For a long while the two brothers just sat there on the floor, content to be near each other, to be secure in the knowledge that things were finally okay, finally back to normal. That they were _finally _reunited.

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><p>"Are these your designs?" Tadashi asked, indicating Hiro's drafting board in the corner of the bedroom.<p>

"Yeah," Hiro nodded, looking up from the bed as his brother regarded him with a look of wonder. "Why?"

"They're _really _good!" Tadashi exulted, beaming with pride. "Way better than anything I've ever seen before. Have you shown them to anybody?"

"Not yet," the boy admitted. "I was planning to show them to Dean Miura next week when he came to inspect how the science and technology students were doing on their independent projects."

Tadashi nodded in understanding. "Yeah I was wondering what happened now that Callaghan isn't at SFIT anymore…"

Hiro shrugged. "Dean Miura said the sci-tech students could work on independent projects until a new professor is hired or work on their core classes. Or switch majors."

"Hmm," Tadashi mumbled in affirmation was as he strolled around Hiro's side of the room, examining new papers tacked on the corkboard, new gadgets that had materialized on his brother's desk. He had missed so much in this last year and seeing all of these little tokens reminded him of that fact. He was startled by a newspaper clipping that detailed the grand opening of the newly constructed Tadashi Hamada Exhibition Hall. "They named a building after me?" he questioned, an apprehensive, almost embarrassed expression on his face.

"Yeah," Hiro scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "I…kind of petitioned the university to name the new exhibition center that and they agreed…"

"Change it back!" Tadashi almost begged.

"What?"

"Petition them to change it back. Never mind, I'll do it myself."

"But why?" Hiro's first instinct was to laugh at how flustered his brother was getting, but then he realized what having his name on the building meant. "Wait…I'll go with you," he suggested.

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><p>"You're doing it again," Hiro pointed out as the brothers took their first walk to the university together.<p>

"Huh?" Tadashi asked.

"Grinning like an idiot," Hiro teased.

"What can I say?" his older brother threw an arm around his shoulder and pulled him in closer. "I'm really proud. How many other guys get to say they're going to college with their fourteen year old genius of a brother?"

"It's not even my first day of class, though," the boy protested good-naturedly. In reality, he was so glad to be walking with Tadashi. Normally, the others would drop by the Lucky Cat to walk with him. It was nice to have a group of friends, but Hiro had always felt alone on those morning walks, acutely aware of who was missing. Honey Lemon, Wasabi, Fred, and GoGo had decided to meet up with the Hamada brothers at school, opting to let them enjoy one another's company on the way there today.

"You're right," Tadashi admitted. "It's _our _first day of class," he grinned, ruffling his brother's hair, causing the boy to flip out over how messed up it was now.

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><p>It wasn't easy for Tadashi to accept Hiro's place in Big Hero 6. Or Honey Lemon's. Or Wasabi's. Or GoGo's. Or Fred's. Or Baymax…the whole idea just seemed so foreign and <em>out there <em>to him. Superheroes were revered in the dog-eared comics that Fred was always reading. They didn't exist in the real world. And despite the brightly-colored outfits his friends turned up in on the day of his rescue. Despite Baymax literally _flying _them back to the mainland, he still had a tough time accepting that his nerdy friends and his dorky kid brother were actual crime-fighting, justice-protecting heroes. But if they were all going to be a part of it, then he resolved to be involved as well.

"So when does Big Hero 6 become Big Hero 7?" Tadashi finally asked one night, glancing from his bed past the rice paper screen to Hiro's desk, where the boy was concentrating furiously on a new design. Hiro's pencil snapped at his brother's question. He had been rocking the chair back on its hind legs and the whole thing tipped over, landing him square on his back. "Ow!"

A telltale hissing noise told both brothers that Baymax was inflating. "Hello, I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion." The robot carefully stepped out of his charging station. Tadashi nearly fell off the bed in a fit of laughter. "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?" Hiro glared at his older brother as the infographic flashed across Baymax's abdomen. He ignored the robot.

"On a scale of one to ten…" he began to repeat.

"Baymax, I'm satisfied with my care," Hiro said quickly.

"Hiro, I have not finished my examination yet. Please hold still."

"Fine," the boy huffed, allowing the robot to scan him.

"You have a minor bruise on your upper back. Treatment options include applying a cold compress." The robot's hands glowed blue and he quickly pressed them to the boy's back. Hiro's eyes widened in shock and he jumped out of the way with a loud exclamation.

"Baymax, I'm fine, really!" he was practically pleading with the healthcare robot to avoid another cold touch to the back. "You can go back to charging now. Tadashi and I have to discuss something. I'm satisfied with my care."

"Very well, Hiro," Baymax relented. "You should exercise more caution in the future. Rocking on your chair is dangerous." The robot shuffled back to his charging station, stepped into it, and compressed.

"What did you ask me earlier?" he asked once the robot had returned to his port.

"I said, when does Big Hero 6 become Big Hero 7? When do _I _get to join?"

Hiro was surprised. He hadn't anticipated that question. Tadashi was already a superhero in his book. Besides, he had just gotten his big brother back. He was afraid that making him a hero could lead to a more permanent loss. "Never," he said adamantly.

"W-what?" Tadashi sputtered.

"You heard me," Hiro replied.

"Why not?" Tadashi challenged, acutely aware of how childish he sounded. _Who's the big brother here?_

"Because. It's…it's dangerous."

"Then all the more reason why I should go. You need _adult _supervision, Hiro."

"Isn't that what Baymax is for?"

"Baymax is a robot that I invented to treat injuries and heal people. He's not a babysitter!" Tadashi's voice was rising and he rose to his feet.

"Well everyone else is nineteen. GoGo's almost twenty!"

Tadashi shook his head. "That's not the point, Hiro. When you go to answer one of those calls…I worry about you. Aunt Cass worries about you, too."

"Well then how come she doesn't send someone after me or demand to be part of the team?" Hiro challenged, stubborn in his conviction that Tadashi should not join the team.

The older brother sighed. "I was able to convince her that Baymax was the safest guardian around but that doesn't change the fact that I would feel a whole lot better if I was there with you. I'm worried all the time for you, Hiro! I'm worried that…that I could…"

The younger brother was taken aback by Tadashi's implication. The next thing he knew, he was hugging his brother again. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I know t-that you worry about me and I know you'd feel better if you were there but I almost lost you once already and I'm…I'm just too scared to put you on the team and risk losing you again," he confessed.

"It's okay…but I worry about you, too! When you're out there fighting crime. I know you're in good hands—I trust my friends...But when you're there and I'm here it makes me feel like I did when I was in the lab working for Callaghan," he hugged his brother back, then let him go. "Besides," he added with a mischievous grin, "those super suits are sick."

Tadashi didn't end up joining Big Hero 6. He was certain if he fought harder he could have convinced Hiro to change his mind, but ultimately he knew his little brother would constantly be fearing for him. And that would mess with his own ability to do his job. Besides, he reasoned, Hiro was smart and he had Baymax and four other people with him. He would be fine.

In the meantime, they had found him something else to do so that he could still be involved in the team and monitor what they were doing. It was Fred's idea actually.

"Every superhero team needs a guy at HQ," he had explained. "Like an awesome butler or a super cool tech guy or a police commissioner who secretly calls the hero in to solve cases he can't solve on his own. Tadashi could be our HQ guy!"

He had to admit, he wasn't crazy about the idea at first, but he wanted to feel involved _somehow_. These were his best friends and he had already missed out on a lot with them. Plus, holding down the fort from the garage and dispatching the team to places where trouble was reported gave him peace of mind. He could see where Hiro and the others were, received live feedback from their suits determining if they were injured or not, and could communicate with them to ascertain they were okay.

And Hiro even made him a super suit. Granted, it didn't give him any unique powers like it did the others, but it was durable, insulated for cold weather and vented for hot weather, waterproof, bulletproof, and fire resistant (just in case, Hiro had told him, even though both found the joke to be morbid). He was a certifiable member of the team now, and even though it was weird for him to imagine his barely-a-teen kid brother as a superhero, he had to admit he was incredibly proud.

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><p>There was nothing Tadashi and Hiro appreciated more than sharing a meal together. They used to eat breakfast with each other every morning—it was their debriefing time, a time to catch up because Tadashi's class schedule sometimes required him to stay late and he couldn't always be home to catch Hiro before he went to sleep. It was this ritual that Hiro missed most while Tadashi was away, as they had taken to calling it because "gone" brought back to many painful memories.<p>

The ritual had expanded now, also including Honey Lemon, Wasabi, GoGo, and Fred. Aunt Cass delighted in a having her café full of the friends' laughter again, seeing her nephews—both of them—together and happy. The group was giggling over Fred's repeated attempts to prove he could balance a teaspoon on his nose. He couldn't.

Honey Lemon made a comment across the table to GoGo that was lost in the general din of the restaurant. Fred gave up on the spoon on the nose trick, instead using the same spoon to catapult tater tots into his mouth, causing Honey Lemon to crack up while GoGo rolled her eyes. Wasabi wasn't paying any mind to his friends' antics, instead rearranging the sugar packets on the table so that the white sugar was grouped together, then the diet sweetener, then the cane sugar.

Tadashi drained his coffee mug and set it down with a solid _thud, _shaking his head at the spectacle the group was making. His eyes met Hiro's across the table and it was like the brothers could read each other's thoughts. This was their family. Full and complete and together and _happy_.

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><p><strong>AN: And there you have it. The official conclusion to this piece. And also my headcanon. All of this happens post-movie as far as I'm concerned and you will never tell me otherwise. You're welcome to consider it the same way. Thank you again for all of your support and your kind reviews. They always encouraged me to keep writing. **

**I know this was short, but as I said I do have more in the works. Please send me your ideas for a fic you'd like to read regarding Big Hero 6! Or at least tell me what genre you'd like to see. I'm open to any and all suggestions! Thank you so, so much for reading. It's been such a pleasure to write this story and give a happier ending to the film's events. One more review on your way out? What do you say?**


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